When Bill Clinton ran for the Presidency the first time, it was reported that a sign with a four word slogan was hung on the walls of his campaign office. That sign simply said, “It's The Economy, Stupid!”

Virtually every candidate for elected office knows that he (she) must proclaim his goal of "creating jobs."

This is the case for those who seek office at the local level and is certainly true for those who aspire to win elections for seats in both houses of the United States Congress and for the Presidency. Shortly after winning enough delegates to the Republican convention to lock up the Republican nomination Mitt Romney talked about his abilities and experiences as a businessman to know how to create jobs for Americans.

Memorial Day is a good time to consider the ongoing plight of our returning American veterans. While too many of their fellow soldiers have made the ultimate sacrifice, those fortunate enough to survive now come home to not only post-war traumatic stress syndrome but also sustained high unemployment.

Getting a consensus on how many millions of Americans are looking for work is tough. But one thing is certain: No matter how the White House favorably spins the April Bureau of Labor Statistics jobs report (unemployment down to 8.1 percent from last month’s 8.2), the net result can’t be obscured. Last month, the dismal economy created only a measly 115,000 jobs.

Unemployment rates vary widely from state to state and, within those states, from city to city. In Pittsburgh, my home town, unemployment is 7.3 percent, about a full point below the 8.2 percent national average. Throughout Pennsylvania, unemployment is at its lowest since 2009, 7.5 percent. Entry level jobs in retail and office management are abundant. [PA. Jobless Rate down to 7.5 percent in March, by Amy Belser, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 20, 2012]

For years American workers have been slammed by a twin-edged sword. Solid blue collar jobs that paid living wages and included benefits packages have been off-shored. Domestically, cheap foreign labor, some of it legally in the United States on non-immigrant visas and rest of it illegal, replaced Americans.

The Washington Post, no friend to immigration reform patriots, has initiated what it calls a “Pinocchio” system for rating misrepresentations made by during political dialogues. Calling himself the “Fact Checker” and identifying his mission as revealing the “truth behind the rhetoric,” Post columnist Glenn Kessler set out to find out what the real story is behind the Google chat room confrontation a few weeks ago between President Obama and Jennifer Wedel, a semiconductor engineer’s wife.

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Californians for Population Stabilization (CAPS) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit membership organization that relies solely on donations. CAPS works to formulate and advance policies and programs designed to stabilize the population of California, the U.S. and the world at levels which will preserve the environment and a good quality of life for all.